News Briefing: 8 May 2026

POLITICAL DONATIONS
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): National Party sitting on huge $11 million election year war chest
Giles Dexter (RNZ): National tops party donations list, ACT overtakes Labour
Julia Gabel (Herald): Political donations: National reports more than $6 million, Act overtakes Labour
Alice Neville (Spinoff): Three-and-a-bit years and $50m+ of political donations, visualised
Henry Cooke (Post): National outraises every other party in 2025, Labour most reliant on small donors (paywalled)

PARLIAMENT, ELECTION AND GOVERNMENT
Matthew Hooton (Herald): National–Labour grand coalition: Could it break MMP stalemate and minor party vetoes? (paywalled)
Ani O’Brien: Who really wants a Grand Coalition between Labour and National?
Michael Swanson: Labour and The Opportunity Party — Could an electorate “deal” with TOP change the game?
Julia Gabel (Herald): Labour draws battle lines in ‘all out’ fight for Māori seats
Claire Robinson: The common thread: what Luxon’s media strategy and Toi Māori have to do with each other
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Are there any heights Simeon Brown can’t reach? (other than the top shelf at the supermarket)
Chris Trotter (ODT): Governments should be very wary of provoking the sheep (paywalled)
Alexia Russell (Newsroom): The party that would be everyone’s coalition friend
Brent Edwards (NBR): Opportunity’s tax policy aimed at getting rid of poverty trap (paywalled)
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Peters’ last play for power
Ryan Bridge (Newstalk ZB): The Nats stand a chance this election
Sue Teodoro (Local Democracy Reporting): Green Party candidate inspired by world’s first openly transgender MP
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): ‘I rang Luxon’: James Christmas on his jump from National to ACT (paywalled)
Nick James (Post): Opportunity Party reveals policies on land tax, universal basic income and KiwiSaver reform (paywalled)

MEDIA & BSA
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): The BSA is dead. Now what?
Peter Thompson (The Conversation): Does abolishing the BSA mean the end of enforceable media standards in general?
Steven Price: BSA PS
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Good riddance to the BSA
Peter Williams: RIP BSA — An unlamented loss
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Victorious complainant says watchdog must be retained to combat ‘fake news’
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): David vs the Media: Has Seymour gone too far?
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): David Seymour says changes are coming for RNZ leadership, RNZ disagrees
Peter Thompson (Newsroom): Hold my beer… Seymour takes a wild swing at public media
Shayne Currie (Herald): RNZ board shake-up - David Seymour expects changes, outgoing chair hits back; Where is Maiki Sherman?; ANZ announces new chief (paywalled)
Isaac Davison (Stuff): ‘No collusion’: Author of Maiki Sherman alleged slur article rejects political ‘hit’
Henry Oliver (Spinoff): Three former TV political editors on the whole Maiki Sherman saga
Sam Smith (Stuff): Senior journalist ‘no longer employed’ by Herald after report about story pitch
Shayne Currie (Herald): TVNZ breached accuracy standards in coverage of Donald Trump comments – Broadcasting Standards Authority (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): PR ‘conflict’ claim – NZ Herald journalist Joe Los’e resigns (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): The Chase NZ host Paul Henry outruns Broadcasting Standards Authority over Indian food comments (paywalled)
Catrin Owen (Stuff): Voyager boss reposted Hitler passage before media awards fallout
RNZ: TVNZ found in breach of broadcasting standards over Trump report

ECONOMY & OECD
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): OECD’s policy broadside exposes NZ Parliamentarians’ frequent timidity (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): New Zealand faces ‘massive negative energy shock’, OECD warns
Gyles Beckford (RNZ): OECD report suggests raft of reforms to help New Zealand economy
Richard Harman: Once again Willis says “no” to the OECD (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Nicola Willis agrees NZ superannuation settings must change after OECD warning (paywalled)
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): OECD urges urgent reform of NZ’s energy sector (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): OECD suggests linking NZ Super eligibility to life expectancy and hiking KiwiSaver contributions
Mandy Te (Interest): New Zealand’s economy is recovering gradually but global turbulence, unemployment
Mike Jones (Newsroom): Hard labour – a look under the hood of the New Zealand job market (in charts)
Federico Magrin (Post): ‘Citizen-run’ movement plans 43 protests as families struggle with fuel prices (paywalled)

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